Love and Equity: The Social Doctrine of Origen of Alexandria
There has been a renewed interest, in the academy and in the church, in the teaching of the Church Fathers on social and economic questions, and in particular on the proper distribution of material goods. This article attempts to provide an overview of the social teaching of Origen of Alexandria, wi...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
2014
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In: |
Studies in Christian ethics
Year: 2014, Volume: 27, Issue: 4, Pages: 385-403 |
Further subjects: | B
Social
B Justice B Poverty B Love B Equity B Origen |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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Summary: | There has been a renewed interest, in the academy and in the church, in the teaching of the Church Fathers on social and economic questions, and in particular on the proper distribution of material goods. This article attempts to provide an overview of the social teaching of Origen of Alexandria, with a special focus on the question of distributive justice. It explores Origen’s view of the relationship between justice and charity, of the moral burdens of riches and the spiritual benefits of poverty, on the roles of the wealthy and the poor in the church, and on the obligations of all believers to ensure a distribution of material goods which is in accord with the demands of justice and charity. This article concludes that, even if Origen never systematizes his own answers to these questions, his occasional and frequent reflections on them are consistent enough to provide a profound and well-balanced teaching on distributive justice, which exerted an undeniable influence on later thinkers. |
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ISSN: | 0953-9468 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0953946814540738 |